£5m grant to power Wirral's windfarm business drive (From Wirral Globe)

£5m grant to power Wirral's windfarm business drive

2:03pm Friday 19th October 2012 in News By Geoff Barnes

Wirral Council’s hopes of placing the peninsula at the forefront of the renewable energy business has been boosted with a £5m cash injection.

The cash comes from the Regional Growth Fund and will allow improvement to be made to port areas for the storage and assembly of wind turbines for use in the Irish Sea - promising job opportunities for hundreds of local people.

Council leader Phil Davies said: “The success of Wirral Council’s bid is brilliant news for local businesses and has the potential to bring hundreds of jobs to the borough.

"Our proximity to the Irish Sea makes Wirral ideally placed to capture a share of this growing market; we have to ensure that local businesses are in a position to secure the maximum profits from an emerging sector, including jobs in manufacturing, infrastructure, engineering, fabrication, operations and maintenance.”

He added: “Working alongside our key partners at Cammell Laird will ensure we have the best possible team in place to maximise the impact of this funding."

Laird’s chief executive John Syvret said: “The emerging offshore wind sector is very much a target market of Cammell Laird as it provides massive opportunities for growth in its business, which will undoubtedly create new job opportunities both within the core business and throughout our supply chain.”

Last year Wirral Council unsuccessfully applied to the Government’s £200m technology and innovation fund to develop a national hub for offshore renewable energy.

A council spokesman said: “This year’s successful bid aims to place the borough at the forefront of renewable energy enterprise, which is a rapidly growing multi-billion pound industry.”